Poll

Extension

The 2018 KCA Convention is Jan. 11-12 in Lexington. The program will provide cattle producers the opportunity to learn and meet other farmers from across the state. In addition to cattle farmers, the meeting will be held with the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Annual Convention and a joint Ag Industry Trade Show.

The 2018 Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference will have something of interest for all fruit and vegetable producers. The event runs from 8 a.m. EST Jan. 8 until 5 p.m. Jan. 9 at Lexington’s Embassy Suites Hotel.

As the mercury drops on the thermometer, remember to stay warm both indoors and outdoors for your health. This is particularly true for older adults as they tend to lose body heat faster than younger adults.

In family and consumer sciences extension, we work to give individuals the skills they need to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families. Throughout the year, we offer educational programs centered in areas that range from making healthy lifestyle choices to securing financial stability. In the past programming year, we have reached more than 1.6 million Kentuckians.

Batch cooking (or cooking in advance) is preparing several meals at one time. It allows you to plan a week or more of menus around featured sales at the grocery store. This saves time and money. Batch cooking can be done in several ways. One way is to make entire meals and then freeze them for later use. The meals can be prepped in advance and frozen for cooking later or completely cooked so they only need to be thawed and reheated. Hearty stews, casseroles and lasagnas are great examples of meals you can freeze for later use.

A stinky brown army is marching across Kentucky this fall, accidentally entering your homes and offices and they look for protective overwintering sites. Brown marmorated stink bugs leave a stain and a very unpleasant odor when mashed. Once winter ends, the insects move on and resume their normal life cycle. But they can leave a path of plant damage in their wake. You take charge and reclaim your structures and fields from these invaders.

The growing season is winding down, but the produce section of the market still has a lot of fresh produce available. One that you might not associate with fall is cauliflower.
Cauliflower is packed full of nutrients and has very few calories. In fact, a half-cup serving of cauliflower contains an entire day’s dose of vitamin C and only 25 calories. Cauliflower also provides 10 percent of your daily folate needs and 8 percent of your dietary fiber requirements. It is very low in sodium and has no fat or cholesterol.